About
Building ventures and partnerships across Africa, with a particular focus on hospitality advisory, business development, and growth.
I am originally from Norway, but most of my adult life and almost all of my working life have played out in Africa.
I grew up in Orkanger, south of Trondheim, and later in Nesodden, across the fjord from Oslo. When my father took a diplomatic posting to Brussels in 1988, it opened up a much wider world. Living in Belgium, moving between systems, and continuing in the French school environment after returning to Norway made international life feel normal early on. Travel, languages, and cross-border movement became part of the background.
That mattered later. So did the internet. During my years at BI Norwegian Business School, where I graduated with the siviløkonom degree, now equivalent to a Master of Business and Economics, I started building and publishing online. bauck.com began in 1998 as a hand-coded personal site. That habit of building, testing, documenting, and staying curious online never really left me.
Håvar Bauck
Entrepreneur, hospitality advisor, founder of HotelOnline, and speaker
My work combines entrepreneurship, business development, and hospitality advisory across African markets, backed by more than two decades of operating experience.
bauck.com – one of the oldest continuously active blogs on the internet
bauck.com began as a hand-coded personal website in Windows Notepad in 1998 and has remained active ever since. Its legacy pages preserve the older parts of the site and the story of how it evolved.
The main legacy pages of this blog can be found here.
Then came the decision that changed everything. In 2002, I arrived in Kenya through an AIESEC and Norec exchange programme for what was supposed to be one year. I am still here.
A career shaped by Africa
My first role in Nairobi was at the Kenya Investment Authority, under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, at a moment when Kenya was going through a major political transition and a strong wave of optimism. Being in Nairobi then gave me a front-row view of a region in motion. I could see the energy, the gaps, the underbuilt systems, and the opportunities far more clearly from inside than I ever could have from Europe.
When that first year ended, the obvious path was not obvious at all. I ended up building a small consulting business between Kenya and Norway, landing and delivering projects while trying to work out where I could build a serious long-term career without losing that closeness to Africa. That led me into telecoms.
I worked in commission sales in Norway, then in international sales at IPDrum, and later at Vyke Communications, where I took responsibility for African markets. Those years taught me how to sell new technology into imperfect markets, how distribution really works, how revenue often comes from less glamorous products than the headline story suggests, and how much commercial success depends on understanding what customers and partners will actually use, buy, and pay for.
Alongside that, I stayed tied to Africa. I later joined Kyoto Energy in Kenya, in a role that was supposed to support the commercial rollout of off-grid solar products. The reality turned out to be far messier than the story. It was a hard lesson in founder risk, diligence, and what happens when an inspiring narrative is not backed by a viable business.
After that, I moved into a regional sales role with Upstream, a Greek mobile technology company that was still growing strongly in the middle of the financial crisis. I built their market in East Africa and later moved to Lagos to help open the Nigeria office. That period deepened my understanding of African markets considerably. Lagos added another layer: bigger, faster, harsher, and commercially relentless.
Building across sectors and markets
My move into hospitality began in 2013 with Nairobi Airport Hotel, which I co-founded with Endre Opdal at a time when Nairobi had relatively little airport accommodation. Built around furnished units rented by the night, it helped pioneer the short-term rental model in East Africa, years before Airbnb established a meaningful presence in the region. It was a practical response to a clear market gap and became an early lesson in positioning, digital distribution, and the importance of getting the commercial model right. In 2014, it became the most-booked property in Nairobi on Booking.com.
That experience led into Savanna Sunrise. The original ambition was broader, but we gradually sharpened the model around a clear need: helping independent hotels improve their online visibility, commercial performance, and digital distribution.
Savanna Sunrise eventually evolved into HotelOnline. We built it into one of Africa’s leading hospitality technology companies, now working with more than 6,000 hotels across 27 countries. The journey involved expansion, product development, partnerships, acquisitions, and fundraising, alongside the daily realities of building across diverse markets.
Together, these experiences gave me a broad view of hospitality, from operating a property to helping thousands of hotels improve their systems, distribution, and revenue. That perspective now shapes how I approach hotel projects and advisory work.
What I do now
Today, my work spans a mix of hospitality advisory, business development, speaking, writing, and a small number of ventures and initiatives I find worth building around.
I work mainly with hotel owners, investors, and developers, bringing together commercial judgment, operating experience, and a practical understanding of African markets. Beyond hospitality, I continue to pursue business opportunities and partnerships across the continent.
The common thread is simple: I prefer work where ideas have to hold up in the real market and where experience can help move them forward.
Writing, travel, and the longer thread
Travel has never been separate from the rest of the story.
I have visited 57 countries, lived in Norway, Belgium, Kenya, and Nigeria, and done business across a much wider set of markets. Over time, bauck.com became not only a professional reference point but also a long-running record of movement, travel, photography, ideas, and the places and moments that turned out to matter.
That side of the site is not decorative. It comes from the same instinct that has shaped most of my working life: go closer, pay attention, understand what is actually there, and document what you find before it gets flattened into a cliché.
That is part of why my business life and the rest of my life do not sit in neat compartments. Entrepreneurship, travel, writing, speaking, hospitality, technology, market-building, and photography have overlapped for years. This site reflects that.
I have also preserved the most important older pages in a dedicated legacy section, including the legacy version of this page, which evolved continuously as part of my online life story since 1998. At the same time, I have moved my Africa travel blogging and galleries to Wandering Africa, where that part of the story now continues on its own dedicated platform.
What you will find here
bauck.com is my main online reference point.
It brings together the different strands of my life and work: entrepreneurship, advisory work, speaking, travel, writing, media, and a digital trail that began in 1998 and is still going.
Some people arrive here because of business. Some because of speaking. Some because of travel. Some because they found an old article, a media appearance, or a page from years ago. That is fine. It is the same life viewed from different angles.
If there is one common thread through all of it, it is probably this: I have spent much of my life building, moving, paying attention, and trying to make sense of markets, industries, and places that are changing fast.
That is the story behind the site, and much of the story behind me.
Let’s connect
If you are developing a hotel project, pursuing a broader business opportunity in Africa, or looking for an advisor or speaker, I would be glad to hear from you.
I read every message myself and respond personally.